From 1 Peter 1 and verse 22 we learn that the very basis for Peter’s command “love one another fervently with a pure heart” is the prerequisite or “precondition” of a purified soul. Notice what Peter said first, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth [b]through the Spirit in [c]sincere love of the brethren” . Since / Because you have purified your souls in obeying the truth you are now set apart…
Read Job chapters 1 and two. Notice Job lost all this in one single day. No time to reset, just one after another. What was Job’s mindset? Maybe I could say—his world view. Was it not one of trusting God fully, completely in everything? What would you do today—if four people came one after the other and said this to you? If your Hope Rests Fully on the Grace you will do the same thing as Job…
Set Your Hope Completely on His Grace: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” (NKJV 1 Peter 1:13) and “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being self-disciplined, set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13 ESV), and “Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 HCSB), finally “Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how God will treat you with undeserved grace when Jesus Christ appears.” (1 Pet. 1:13 CEV).
Peter begins with “therefore.” Therefore, what? “Preparing your minds for action, and being self-disciplined” and the key phrase is “set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” When suffering, remember…
Emotion in Christianity can be a touchy subject. There has been a lot of energy has been spent and expended in trying to train us out of having our emotions being a part of our Christianity. There are a lot of good reasons for that, very valid reasons that say, you need to keep your emotions out of your religion. However, for all of the reasons that say that is a good thing, to over react to, to over apply that, to take it completely out our religion, to take it completely out of our Christianity, and to take it out of our relationship with God is not what the scripture asks us to do. In this lesson we will examine what emotion is not, what emotion is and show by the scripture how it belongs in our worship. We will begin by reading Mark 12 verse 30 which reads, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [a]This is the first commandment.” Let us begin…
Listen to me my beloved brethren: the world around us may believe in hopelessness and despair. Remember the commercial and how it depicts misery as the “New Normal”? This world may want others to believe only in despair. But not so with us brethren, we Christians have hope that is alive and “ready to be revealed”. Peter tells us that we are begotten to a living hope, we have…
There was a game show called, “Let’s Make a Deal” where contestants were given the opportunity to win prizes. A prize was offered then contestants were tempted to choose between what they had and an offer hidden from their sight. It could be a great deal, or it could be a “zonk”. Fun, maybe. But when it comes to eternity in Heaven or Eternity in Hell common sense tells us we don’t guess and hope we don’t get zonked. But that is what many do in fact. The door to Heaven is an open door and there is no guesswork involved. The same is true for the door that leads to Hell.
We have all hear the saying, “When things get tough, the tough get going”. That should describe every child of God. When the problem comes when there is pressure—and things get tough—when doing right means standing up and speaking out against error—where are fair-weather Christians? Nowhere to be found. We have the word of God the greatest message ever told, the most powerful gospel, all supported by the Creator and our Lord Jesus Christ. We have all that pertains unto life and godliness, every spiritual answer to every spiritual question. When questions are asked what must we do? Run? God forbid it. We are commanded to “…sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). When we are asked to participate in some “ungodly” activity what must we do? Go along with our peers? God forbid it. We stand for righteousness and say no! We need to stand firm during the storm and trust that the Lord will be with us and see us through.
Unfeigned Love of the Brethren: Christians and their love, in the last 9 months have been tested by two things. (1) The advent of a killer virus—which has divided many—and continues to test the sincerity of our love and (2) The division of society, opposing ideologies, governing authorities—also test the sincerity of our love. If you took the time to read today’s bulletin you would have read the statement that Christianity has experienced many aberrations. By definition [aberration: is a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome, A characteristic that deviates from the normal type]. Perhaps none has been so difficult and, in many cases, unique—as those who because of health, or because of choice are now hermits of a sort—we tend to call them “shut-ins”. Paul wrote, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). This brings us to the point for this lesson. For every Christian, one part of our service in Christ—Is administering to the needs of others, especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ…
GOD IS REAL: I am going to use the word real as an acronym R-Reason E-Examination A-Accepting Truth L-Live. We are not questioning if God is real—because we know He is, but how can I prove to someone else that God exists. The first step is by way of pure reason? Reason Proves God is Real.
Great significance must be applied to these two words when spoken by Jesus. “Follow Me”. For Peter and the other Apostles, this meant two things. One, as you follow Me in this world you will suffer persecutions, even death. Two, if you stay the course you will be with Me where I am in eternity. Easier said than done especially when the invitation to follow Jesus is preceded by “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish” meaning you will die at the hands of another. In Peter’s case that meant he would be lead to be executed by crucifixion. So, If I were Peter what would I have done? Would I run, hiding my faith to save my life or would I stay the course and save my soul and bring glory to God in the process?